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Following three consecutive months of increasing optimism, small-business owners' confidence in the economy fell in September, according to a monthly survey Discover Financial Services sponsors. The monthly Discover Small Business Watch index decreased to 87.7, down from 89.8 in August. The August index represented the highest level since 90.9 in February 2008. The Watch is a monthly report measuring relative economic confidence of 750 randomly selected small-business owners based on their responses to six questions. Its creators established a base index of 100 when the Watch began in August 2006. The percentage of small-business owners who say the economy is getting better decreased to 33% this month from 38% in August. Some 46% of small-business owners say the economy is getting worse, up from 43% last month. "Although slightly lower this month, small-business confidence has been on a gradual climb since May, so this looks more like a pause than a reversal," Ryan Scully, Discover business credit card director, said of the report's findings. Fifty percent of small-business owners say they plan to decrease spending on business development activities such as advertising, inventory and capital expenditures, up from 43% in August. Those owners who plan to increase spending fell to 25% from 27% last month.
